IS CHINA CLEANING HOUSE IN THE CARIBBEAN, REMOVING PRIOR THREATS TO ITS VALUED CBI/CIP ACTIVITIES?

MP Asot Michael

Financial analysts who are following China's expanding activities in the Caribbean, especially its dominant role in the Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) industry, are examining a recent event, and asking privately whether the People's Republic is behind it, and why. The cold-blooded murder of Antigua Member of Parliament ASOT MICHAEL, who as the former Minister of Investment, was deeply involved in managing the country's CIP program, and having two prior corruption scandals connected to exposure of the sale of blank Antigua passports in his past, was closely associated with the darker aspects of the program, raises far more questions than there are answers about why he was killed. 

The nature of the crime, which has lent itself to questions about whether it was an assassination conducted by a professional, reportedly leaving no clues, and causing Antigua to call in Scotland Yard to solve the puzzle, has raised questions about China's possible role. China maintains an extremely large embassy in Antigua, labeled by locals "The Fortress," due to its size and extensive security apparatus, and has come to dominate all phases of Antiguan life in recent years. A suspect appears to have been conveniently named; whether he is actually guilty, or is being used to satisfy public unrest over the violence we cannot say.

Whether this dark event was caused by a China, concerned about removing all the evidence of prior corruption in the economic citizenship industry in the East Caribbean, in which it has emerged as the principal player, remains an open question, deserving of further inquiry. We trust that the promised Scotland Yard inquiry will shed some light on the subject. In the meanwhile, we intended to keep our antenna focused on any further indications that there are efforts to control the more serious threats to the future of the citizenship by investment industry in the Caribbean.